Performance of a condenser of an automotive air conditioner with maldistribution of inlet air—Simulation studies and its experimental validation

Datta, Saikat; Das, Prasanta Kumar; Mukhopadhyay, Siddhartha

doi:10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2016.03.019

Cited by 18 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…Most of the previous experimental studies agreed that non-uniform air distribution causes performance degradation of condenser/evaporator, and the performance degradation increases when the average airflow speed decreases. 7 However, these general conclusions are opposed by two studies. 14,15 Another issue relevant to non-uniform airflow investigation is the tube side flow maldistribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Numerical study on the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of an automotive parallel-flow condenser under non-uniform airflow

Zhao

Guo

Pang

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D:

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The performance of an automotive parallel-flow condenser was numerically investigated considering both airside and refrigerant-side flow mal-distributions, the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of the condenser under the air-side blockage of each tube pass was first studied, then the influence of the form and degree of uneven airflow that may be revealed in vehicles on the performance of the condenser was analyzed. At last, using the simulation model combined with the measurements of the vehicle in the climatic wind tunnel, the thermal-hydraulic features of the condenser as well as the performance of the A/C system under various front-end status and vehicle conditions was evaluated. It was found that the performance degradation of the condenser resulting from the air-side blockage of the first pass exceeds that caused by the obstruction of all the other three passes together. According to the performance deterioration sequence of the condenser from high to low, the order of the four possible non-uniform airflow patterns in vehicles is low on the top and high at the bottom (LTHB), low in the middle (LM), high in the middle (HM), and high on the top and low at the bottom (HTLB), and the last two forms could even enhance the performance of the condenser under certain working conditions. The rule of cooling airflow optimization is to arrange large/small air velocity on the area with intrinsically large/small refrigerant side heat transfer coefficient of the condenser. The possible direction of cooling airflow design in vehicles is inferred.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Numerical study on the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of an automotive parallel-flow condenser under non-uniform airflow

Zhao

Guo

Pang

2022

Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D:

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“…Shojaeefard et al 14 performed multiple target optimization on the air side of microchannel condensers using genetic algorithm, thereby enhancing the optimized condenser heat‐transfer rate by 3.97% and reducing the corresponding pressure drop by 8%. Datta et al 15 found that the condition of fin inlet air blockage has little effect on the heat exchange capacity, it will increase the two‐phase area, resulting in a larger flow resistance. Hu et al 16 tested the performance of a microchannel heat exchanger under different fouling levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and performance optimization of microchannel condensers for electric vehicles

Liu

et al. 2021

Int J Energy Res

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Summary Conventional air conditioning systems for electric vehicle have insufficient performance. Therefore, the structures on both sides of microchannel condensers must be optimized to improve their thermal hydraulic performance and enhance the COP of the air‐conditioning system in electric vehicles. Through numerical calculations and experiments, the thermal hydraulic performance of microchannel condensers were evaluated to determine the optimal values of the microchannels number, flat‐tube hole aspect ratio, flow passes, and fin pitch. The results obtained using established numerical calculation models have certain reliability with errors within ±5.6%. The results reveal that the heat exchange performance of the microchannel condensers could be enhanced by appropriately reducing the fin pitch at certain frontal air velocities. Additionally, this causes a rapid increase in air flow resistance. When the flat‐tube hole aspect ratio is 1.15 and the number of flat‐tube channels is 10, the microchannel heat exchanger demonstrates optimum thermal hydraulic performance. Experimental results show that the heat exchange capacity of the three‐ and four‐pass microchannel condenser are very close which is 36.5% greater than that of the two‐pass microchannel condenser. Meanwhile, the three‐pass condenser refrigerant flow resistance is 8.3% lower than that of the four‐pass condenser. Therefore, the microchannel condenser with three passes demonstrates the best thermal hydraulic performance.

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“…A comprehensive analysis of an automotive condenser under maldistribution of intake air was carried out by both experimental and numerical simulations [17]. Simulation studies were done using Coil Designer software, in order to simulate the heat transfer and fluid dynamics of cross flow heat exchanger (condenser), whereas experiments were carried out in a condenser of a stationary test facility for an automotive air conditioning system over a wide range of blockage conditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermodynamic Analysis of Window Air Conditioner Using Sustainable Refrigerant R290/RE170 and R1270/RE170 Blends as Substitutes to Refrigerant R22

Shaik¹,

Setty²

2019

IJHT

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The present work emphasis on theoretical computation of thermodynamic performance of window air conditioner using various sustainable R290/RE170 and R1270/RE170 refrigerant mixtures as substitutes to R22. In this work, apart from R407C, twelve new binary mixtures comprising of R290, R1270 and RE170 at various compositions were developed. And also in this investigation, a MATLAB code was developed to compute the thermodynamic performance characteristics of various considered R22 alternatives at Tk=54.4 0 C and Te=7.2 0 C. The various performance characteristics computed are mass flow rate, refrigeration effect, compressor work, coefficient of performance (COP), pressure ratio, compressor discharge temperature, power consumed per ton of refrigeration, condenser heat rejection and volumetric cooling capacity. Results showed that the COP of refrigerant mixture RM7 (R1270/RE170 95/5 by mass %) was the highest among twelve refrigerants studied and it was 0.23 % higher than R22. Pressure ratio of RM7 (3.174) was 7.49 % lower than that of R22 (3.431). Compressor discharge temperature of all the twelve investigated refrigerants was lower in the range of 9.35 0 C to 17.15 0 C when compared with R22. Power consumed per ton of refrigeration of RM7 was 0.27 % lower than that of R22. Volumetric cooling capacity of RM7 (3833 kJ/m 3) was very close to that of R22 volumetric capacity (3863 kJ/m 3). Heat transfer through condenser of RM7 (6.372 kW) was similar to that of R22 (6.377 kW). Overall, thermodynamic performance of RM7 matches well with the performance of base line refrigerant R22 and hence, refrigerant RM7 can be considered as sustainable alternative to R22 used in air conditioners.

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Performance of a condenser of an automotive air conditioner with maldistribution of inlet air—Simulation studies and its experimental validation

Cited by 18 publications

References 41 publications

Numerical study on the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of an automotive parallel-flow condenser under non-uniform airflow

Numerical study on the thermal-hydraulic characteristic of an automotive parallel-flow condenser under non-uniform airflow

Design and performance optimization of microchannel condensers for electric vehicles

Thermodynamic Analysis of Window Air Conditioner Using Sustainable Refrigerant R290/RE170 and R1270/RE170 Blends as Substitutes to Refrigerant R22

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